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OU won't go out
this stormy even-
ing," Mrs. Merrill
said to her husband,
who had commenced
putting on his over-
coat.

"If I can do any
-good, I shall not
care for the rain,"

Mr. Merrill replied, cheerfully, as he buttoned his coat up close under his chin.

of the good cheer within.

From many of these was heard the loud laugh, or the bacchanalian song, and, as they fell upon the ear of Merrill, he sighed for his infatuated fellow men, who sought brief and exciting sensual pleasures, at the expense of health, character, and happiness. Sometimes he would pause, half tempted to go in among them, and beseech them to stop in their career of folly, ere it was too late. But the recollection of several fruitless efforts of the kind, caused him to forbear.

Just about the time that Merrill left his

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But the wind drives the rain so. You will house, a little scene was passing in a humble be wet through."

tenement, that stood directly in his way to Union Hall, whither he was going. To a spectator acquainted with all the circumstances, that scene would have been a very affecting one. There was a sick child upon a bed, and the father and mother standing beside it. The mother looked anxious and care worn, the father's face had a

No matter. I am neither butter nor salt," smilingly returned the husband. "Don't you remember that it was just such a night as this, two years ago, that a good Samaritan picked me up in the street, and took me to Union Hall?" The tears were glistening in the eyes of the troubled expression. All around indicated wife as she replied,

"Go, Harry, if you think you can do any good. I should be the last to object."

Mr. Merrill kissed, tenderly, the cheek of his wife, who was still in the bloom of young womanhood, and then taking his hat and cane, went forth. It was indeed a stormy night. The wind came rushing along with a dismal howl, and the rain fell heavily. But few persons were in the street, and they were hurrying homeward, anxious to escape the war of ele

ments.

"The storm is heavy, sure enough. I shall not find many at the Hall," Merrill said, half aloud, as he walked quickly along. His way was through a part of the town inhabited by persons of the poorer class. In almost every block of this section, were to be found one or two little taverns, with either a glaring red curtain, or an inviting transparent sign, telling

poverty.

"Her fever is much higher. It has increased rapidly during the last hour," said the mother, looking earnestly into her husband's face.

"Had n't I better go for doctor R-?" "Hetty is very sick. But we havn't settled the last bill yet, and I do n't like to see Dr. R- until that is paid."

The husband said nothing in reply to this, but stood looking down upon his sick child, with something stupid in his gaze. At length the young sufferer began to toss about, and moan, and show painful symptoms of internal distress.

"I'm afraid she 's dangerous," murmured the mother.

"I will go for the doctor. We cannot see our child die, even if his bill is not paid." As the father said this, he took up his hat, and moved towards the door.

"It storms dreadfully, James, and we have no umbrella."

"What shall I do ?"

As he said this, a hand was laid upon his

The wife laid her hand upon her husband's shoulder, and a voice saidarm, and spoke earnestly.

"No matter. I'm not afraid of the rain. I've stood many a worse night than this."

"Suppose you wait awhile, James. Perhaps she will be better." And the wife's hand still rested on her husband's arm. "I don't like to have you go out."

"O, that 's nothing. I do n't care for the rain. Hetty is very ill, and we ought to call in the doctor by all means."

Seeing that he was in earnest about going, she said, looking with a tender, half imploring expression into his face

"You'll come right back again, James ?" "Certainly I will. Do you think I'd remain away, and Hetty so sick?”

Well, do come home as quick as you can. And don't stop any where,-will you?"

"No-no. Never fear."

And he went out, leaving the mother alone with her sick child.

Without pausing an instant, he pursued his way steadily along, bowing his head to the pelting storm, and sometimes cringing, as the fierce gust drove suddenly against him. In about ten minutes he reached the doctor's office, and found him absent, but expected in momently. He sat down, dripping with wet, to await his return; but soon grew restless.

"I'll come back in a few minutes," he at
length said, to the attendant, rising and going
out
Again on the street, he seemed irresso-
lute. At first he stood thoughtfully, and then
moved on a few paces. There was, evidently,

a struggle going on in his mind.
Some propen-
sity was pleading hard for indulgence, while
reason was arguing strongly on the other side.
This debate continued for some time, he walking
r a short distance, and then stopping to
rellect, until he found himself in front of a small
tavern, with a tempting display of liquors in
the window

on

"I'll take just one glass,-and no more," he said, to himself.

"But, you know, if you touch a drop, you will never leave that house sober," spoke a voice within his own bosom.

This made him hesitate. But a depraved appetite urged him on to self-indulgence, and he was about placing his hand upon the door to enter, when the image of his sick child came up before him so vividly that he started back, attering aloud, in the sad consciousness of inability to struggle against the fierce thirst that was overpowering him—

{

"Sign the pledge."

The man turned in surprise. Our friend Merrill stood before him.

"Come with me, and I'll tell you what to do," he said, in a cheerful, encouraging voice. "It's no use. I can't keep it," was despondingly answered.

"But you can keep it. I'll go bond for that. Hundreds, nay, thousands, have done so, and I am sure you will not be the only excep tion. So come along. I'm just on my way to Union Hall, and have the pledge book here under my arm."

"My child is sick, and I must go for the doctor."

"What doctor?"

"Doctor R."

"Just in the way. It won't take you three minutes."

"If I thought there was any use in it. But I've tried to reform too many times. I can't do it. I'm afraid I'm too far gone. Heaven help me! What shall I do?"

There was something very desponding in the man's voice as he spoke.

"Don't listen for a moment to such suggestions," returned Merrill. 66 They are from an enemy. If you have tried to reform and failed in the attempt, it is because you have not tried in the right way."

He had already drawn his arm within that of the poor desponding drunkard, and they were walking away from the charmed spot that had well nigh proved fatal to a wavering resolu tion.

"Last Thursday night," Merrill went on to say, "no less than twenty signed the pledge, and at least five of them were more deeply enslaved than I can believe you to be. We found them in the street, and brought them in, and now they are sober men, and will remain So. It appears like a miracle, but we have seen hundreds and hundreds of such miracles. They are occurring every day.

By this time they had reached the Hall, and Merrill, pausing, said,

"This is the place. Come in with me and sign the pledge, and you are safe."

But the man held back. The thought of giving up his liberty-of binding himself down, by a solemn pledge, not even to taste a drop of the pleasant drink that was so sweet to his lips, made him hesitate. The pleadings of appetite for a little more indulgence was strong.

"You are te-to-tallers ?" he at length said.

Do

"But my little girl is very sick. die before morning."

She might

"No danger. I'll be round early."

"But doctor, I wish you would see her tonight. We feel very much troubled."

"Certainly. Our pledge covers the whole ground," Merrill replied. "For such as you, there is no hope but in total abstinence. you think it possible for you to drink a glass of wine, beer, or cider, without having your desire for stronger liquors so excited as to render your further abstinence impossible? Think! Have { petulantly. "You are anxious enough to see you never tried to regulate' yourself?"

“O, yes.

Many and many a time?"

You have tried two glasses of beer a day?" "Yes."

"And before three days were intoxicated?" "It is, alas! too true. Sometimes, in an hour after I took the first glass of beer."

"Then it must be total abstinence, or nothing. In this lies your only ground of safety. Come, then, and put your hand to the pledge that makes you a freeman. Come ! The rain is drenching us to the skin while we stand here. § Come, sign at once, and go home with medicine for your child and joy for the heart of your poor wife. Come, my friend. Now is the great turning point in your life. Health, prosperity, happiness are welcoming you with smiles on one side; sickness, poverty, and wretchedness are on the other. Just two years ago I stood on this very spot, urged as I am now urging you to sign; I yielded at last, and have been prospered ever since. I have plenty at home, and plenty with content. Before, all was wretchedness. Come then, my friend-come with us, and we will do thee good!"

"Yes, come," said a third person, pausing at the door of Union Hall, just at the moment and taking hold of the poor man's arm.

The slight impulse of the hand upon his arm, decided his wavering resolution. He went in with them, and going up between them to the secretary's desk, put his hand to the pledge.

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"There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety-nine just persons that need no repentance," said the president of the meeting in a serious voice. My friend, you have all Heaven on your side, for Heaven is on the side of good resolutions. Look up and be strong. They that are for you are more than all who are against you." A thrill of pleasure ran through the soul of the redeemed inebriate, such as he had not known for a long, long time. He left the Hall, feeling more like a man than he had felt for six years, and hurried away to the office of Doctor R-. The doctor was in, but, at first seemed little inclined to go out on so stormy a night, especially to visit the family of a man who drank up his earnings and neglected to pay his bills.

"I will call round in the morning, Simpson. It rains too hard to-night."

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"No doubt," the doctor returned, a little

me when any thing is the matter; but as soon as all is straight again, I'm never thought of." "But you shall be thought of doctor. I know I have not treated you well, but hereafter you shall not have cause to complain."

I don't know, Simpson. Men like you are always full of fair promises. But, a sight of the next tavern makes you forget them all."

"I know I know. But there'll be nothing more of that. See !" And he drew from his bosom a neatly folded paper and handed it to the doctor, who took it and glanced his eye over its contents.

"Ha! What is this? A pledge?"

Yes, doctor."

"When was this done?"

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To-night. Not ten minutes ago."

"And are you really in earnest, Simpson?" "I feel like dying by that pledge. It was hard to take; but now that it is taken, I will never violate it. I feel that I can stand by it like a man.”

"Go home, Simpson," replied Doctor R, in a changed voice, as he handed him back his pledge. "Go home, and tell your wife that I will be there in ten minutes. Good by, and stand by your pledge."

"I will do it, doctor."

On his way home, Simpson did not notice a single one of the tempting red curtains, and bottles of liquor that filled so many windows. He thought only of his wife, and the heart h was about to make happy.

The joy that filled the bosom of the poor wife, who had begun sadly to fear that her hus{band, whose weakness she too well knew, had been tempted to take a glass on his way to the doctor's office, need not be described. It was deep, trembling, and full of thankfulness to Him, who is the Great Restorer of all things to order from disorder. Even though her child remained ill through the night, she felt a warmth of joy in her heart such as she had not known for many years.

In a few weeks, every thing about the person and dwelling of Simpson became remarkably changed. He was a good workman, and could earn fair wages at his trade. Instead of idling half of his time, and spending more than half of what he earned in drink, he worked all of his time, and placed in the hands of his prudent

wife every dollar he made. the change.

Thus matters went on for nearly a year, when, the excitement of experience meetings, and other external means of keeping up an interest among the reformed men, and occupying their minds having subsided, Simpson began to feel restless and lonesome, and was often strongly tempted to drop in to some of his old places of resort, and pass an evening in good fellowship with former associates.

This accounted for sound of music issuing from a noted drinking establishment, but a short distance ahead. Quickening his pace, he was soon in front of the house, when he paused to listen. The music was from a hand organ, the owner of which had been paid a certain sum by the proprietor of the tavern to play him a number of tunes, as a means of drawing in customers. The plan suc{ceeded to his entire satisfaction, and had like to have succeeded in enticing Simpson within the charmed circle of his bar-room. But, just as his hand was on the latch, his better sense came to his aid, and he tore himself away.

Such thoughts always produced a feverish state; for a contest would arise in his mind between the truth which he had obeyed for a year, and the specious, but false reasonings of inclination and the force of old habits not yet eradicated. The consequence was, that Simpson became unhappy. He wanted something to interest him-some excitement to keep him up. He had told his own experience, and heard others relate theirs, until he was tired. That was well enough for a time; but it would not satisfy always. He had never been very fond of reading, and had not that resource, so elevating and strengthening to the mind, lifting it up into the higher regions of intellectual thought, instead of leaving it to sink down amid the mere allurements of sense.

As this state of dissatisfaction increased, Simpson became really more and more unhappy.

Walking on again, with his head down, he felt still more wretched. The danger he had just escaped, made him fearfully aware of the dangers that beset him on every side. So wrought up in mind did he become, under a sense of his condition, that, shuddering from a vivid picture of himself again an abandoned drunkard, which his imagination had conjured up, he stopped suddenly, and said, aloud,

"God help me! What shall I do ?"

A hand was laid upon his shoulder, and a voice, that he had heard before, said, in surprised accentsIs it you? What is the

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Simpson !

trouble now?"

It was Merrill, who had encountered him again, just at a critical moment. Simpson

shoulder, and looked into the face of the intruder half sternly.

He wanted something to sustain him. Some-turned quickly when he felt the hand upon his thing extra to his mere pledge. Deeply conscious of this, and conscious that he was in imminent danger of falling, he became anxious, gloomy, and desponding.

One evening, after sitting at home for an hour, and reading over the newspaper of the day, even to the advertisements, he took his hat and said

"I believe I'll walk out for a little while. I feel so dull."

What ails you now, my friend?" resumed Merrill. "A good temperance man should never be in trouble of mind."

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"No, no. Not yet! But heaven only knows how soon I may do so. I am beset with temptations that it seems impossible for me to withstand."

"It was not so at first."

His wife looked up at him, and tried to smile. But, she felt troubled; for she had noticed, for some time, that he was not altogether himself. What the cause was, she did not really know. But a wife is never far wrong in her conjectures. "You won't stay out long?" she merely said. "O, no. I shall be back in a little while. I pied my mind. only want to take a short walk." and I am thrown weak, weak self.

"No. The excitement of meetings, and concerts, and the relation of experiences, occuBut these have died away; back upon myself again-my If I do not fall, it will be a every tavern I pass in the streets, and think, spite of all my efforts to keep such things out of my mind, of the mixed liquors that would thrill upon my taste like nectar, which are there to be obtained. What shall I do? I feel as if evil spirits were leagued to destroy me, and that, unless I receive

When Simpson left his house, he walked away, with his eyes upon the pavement unde-miracle. I see termined where he should go. He had gone out merely because he felt too restless to sit at home. Now that he was in the street, he was as dissatisfied as ever. Moving on with a slow, measured tread, he had gone for the distance of two or three squares, when his ear caught the

more than human strength, I will inevitably, the acknowledgment that all we have is from fall." the Lord, and, in the endeavor to shun every “And so you will," was the solemnly spoken evil of life because it is a sin against him, we reply.

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will receive all the strength we need, no matter how deeply we may be tempted. From this hour, then, my friend, resolve to put your trust in Him who careth for you. After all, this is the reformed man's only hope. The pledge is a mere external, temporary safeguard, that must be superceded by a deeply grounded religious

"Do you remember what was said to you on the night you signed the pledge by our Pre-principle, or he will be every hour in danger of sident?" asked Merrill.

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Up to Him who can alone give power to every good resolution. If you have been striving in your own strength, no wonder that you are on the eve of falling. External excitements { and reasons of various kinds may sustain a reformed man for a time, but, until he place his cause in the hands of the All-Powerful, he is in imminent danger."

falling. We must be supported from the centre, and not from the circumference. The pledge is a hoop, that is liable at any time to break, but obedience to God is a strong attraction at the centre, holding in perpetual consistence all things that are arranged in just order around it. Will you not then look up?"

"I feel that it is my only hope."

"Take my solemn assurance that it is. Go home, and carry with you this truth, that if you will strive to act from the higher motive I have given you, all will be right."

"But how shall I do this? I am not a reli- the fears that had stolen over her spirit. gious man."

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Why have you refrained from drinking?"
"Because it is a debasing vice; a vice that,
if indulged, will beggar my family, as it has
once, already, done."

"You must abstain from a higher motive."
"Can there be a higher one?"
"Yes."

"What is it?"

"To refrain from doing an evil act, because it is a sin against God, is a much higher motive, and one that will give a striving spirit power over all its enemies. You acknowledge a God?" "O yes."

"And that he is ever present?" "Yes."

It was, perhaps, half an hour from the time Simpson left his house, that he re-entered it. {His wife looked up with some concern in her face as he came in. But a first glance dispelled Before going to bed that night, Simpson got the family Bible, and read a chapter aloud. In doing so, he felt a sweet tranquility pervade his mind, such as he had not experienced for a long time. On the next day he tried to elevate his thoughts to the Power above in which he wished to put his trust. He found it much easier to do so than he had expected. It was not long before, in addition to the reading of a chapter in the evening, before retiring, a brief prayer was said. From that time, a deep religious sentiment took possession of the mind of Simpson. Light broke in upon him. He saw clearer the path before him, the dangers that surrounded him, and the way of escape. Some years have passed, and he is still a sober man. He does

"And a rewarder of them that diligently not think of his pledge, nor of the degradation seek him?"

"So the Bible tells us."

"It is all true. Whatever power we have to oppose evil, is from Him. If we look to ourselves, and claim the little strength we possess as our own, we will too soon find that we are weakness itself. But, if we strive to act in all things from a religious principle—that is, in

of drunkenness as a reason for abstinence; but deems it a sin against God to touch, taste, or handle that which would unfit him for those duties in life, which, as a man, he is bound to perform.

Let every reformed man look up to the same All-sustaining Source, and he is safe from all danger

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